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All Eagles players, even Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long, should visit White House, and this is why

Several Philadelphia Eagles players (notably Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long) are expected to skip their White House visit Tuesday to perform community service. But they should go see Donald Trump instead, and this is why.

On the surface, Tuesday should be a time for the Eagles to become the latest in a long line of professional and college teams to celebrate their championship with the president of the United States.

The day is supposed to be filled with pomp and circumstance as the players and coaches gather around the president, present him with a team jersey, listen to a speech of some sort with a few jokes thrown in, then pose for photographs and take a tour of the White House.

But that hasn't happened much over the past 18 months, ever since President Donald Trump took office. His politics and statements have offended many, especially African-Americans. The Golden State Warriors, for example, skipped the visit entirely last year, as did the University of North Carolina when the Tar Heels won the NCAA basketball championship in 2017.

Several players have stayed away from the White House as well even if their teams have attended.

Many of those players expressed their concerns by kneeling during the national anthem. This drew the ire of Trump, who was quoted at a rally last fall saying "get that son of a bitch off the field" for kneeling, then added those players should be "fired."

Some owners have admitted that Trump had a hand in the recent anthem policy established by NFL owners that all players must stand for the anthem or else the team will face a fine from the league. The team can in turn fine the player or players protesting.

The players have the option of staying in the locker room during the anthem and thus not be subject to a fine.

Jenkins and some other players are planning community events instead of going to the White House.

Here's a suggestion, however, that they should reconsider and go to the White House. In fact, they should stand right next to Trump.

But it's not about patriotism, or meeting the President.

Rather, it's so Trump would have to look those players in the eye when he boasts about the anthem policy or how they're supposedly unpatriotic.

And it would give Jenkins and Long and the other Eagles players a chance to tell Trump about why they were protesting during the anthem, and how those protests were instrumental in getting the owners to pledge $89 million for inner city initiatives.

Jenkins said recently that he didn't want to go to the White House because he didn't agree with Trump's politics, adding: "I definitely want to avoid being used as kind of a pawn."

Jenkins stopped raising his fist during the anthem once the owners made that pledge in November. Many other players had stopped kneeling, too.

Back in September, when Trump made his outrage known about players kneeling during the anthem, more than 200 players did so during the anthem. By the end, it was about a dozen.

Then after the NFL imposed the anthem policy, Trump said those players who don't like it "should leave the country."

Well, Jenkins and the others aren't leaving the country. They have never protested the flag or the military. This is their opportunity to make sure Trump knows that.

"Demonstrations (during the anthem) were very effective," Jenkins said. "Here we are going into three years later and we’re still having conversations about it. Even though it gets confused sometimes, the arguments are still creating that dialog. The reason that we’re still talking about it is because we have yet to find a better way to do it to create this much buzz. Nobody has provided another platform to have the same weight.

"We’ll continue to figure out what we have at our disposal to draw as much attention as possible, to continue to stay on message about it being about systemic racism, about our criminal justice system, about police brutality, about lack of education and equal opportunity in our communities of color."

Then Jenkins described his disappointment in the anthem policy.

"I have worked with the league and talked with the league about what we’re doing," he said. "To have (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell come to Philly and show him first hand what’s going on in this community, and do the same thing with (Eagles owner) Jeffrey Lurie and (Patriots owner) Robert Kraft, and have talks with (Falcons owner) Arthur Blank, (Dolphins owner Stephen) Ross down in Miami, and all these different owners who have seen first hand the type of work that we’ve been doing and why players are so passionate about it.

"To then come back with a decision like that just lacked the empathy, sensitivity and context that I think players were looking for."

Here's Jenkins' chance to tell that to the President of the United States in person. It likely won't change the way Trump feels about players kneeling during the anthem. But at least it would force Trump to at least know who he's calling "a son of a bitch."

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Frank writes for The (Delaware) News Journal, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK